Underfeed firing device.



O. VIRDEN.

UNDERFEED FIRING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 11. 1913.

Patentedsept. 21, 1915.

UNDERFEED FIRING DEVICE.

sra'rns mama ORVILIlE vrrmnn, or sit. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

FFTQE Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Sept. $1, 11915.

Application filed April 11,1913. Serial No. 760,541.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, ORVILLE St. Louis, Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Underfeed Firing Devices, of which the following is a specification containing a full, clear, and

exact description, reference being bad to the naces, stoves, and other coal-burning apparatus" which employ a fire box and grate, and my invention consists inthe novel construction hereinafter described and specifically designated in the appended claim The object of my invention is to provide an improved under-feed firing device, which shall feed the fuel continuously upward through an opening in the fire grate, whereby it will be unnecessary to open the fire door for the purpose of feeding the fuel to the fire-box and smoke and gases will be consumed, necessarily effecting a marked increase in economy.

In the drawings: Figure 1 is a sectional front elevation of a steam heater or boiler furnace having my invention applied thereto; Fig. 2 is a sectional plan view of the same, the section being taken on the line -.22 of Fig. 1; and Fig. 3 is a detailed vertical section of a portion of the fire-grate sup porting frame.

The numeral 1 indicates the usual steam. boiler or heater, or it may be a stove, having vided on their under side with detachable inverted caps 10, which are held in placeby common set screws 11, so that the said journals may be removed from said bearings whenever required (see Fig. 3). The gratebars 7 are provided with journals 8 and bearings 9 on each end, and the journals on each end are all geared together by means VIRDEN, a- ""u-pon said journals.-

citizen of the United States, andresid'ent of I ofscoimmon gear wheels or pinions 12 fixed- One of said journals 8 projects a distance in front of its front gear wheel 12, andis provided with an angular portion 13 which is to be engaged by the usual shaking-handle or bar or socket crank for the purpose of rotating androcking all of said grate bars simultaneouslyin cleanof said grate bars are shorter and have the ournals on their inner ends mounted on suitable bearings formed in the rectangular feed tube frame and dead-plate 14. Said feed tube frame 14 is smooth and flat on' its upper surface and provided w'ith-"acentral feed aperture 15, through which projects the 'ing the fire. Some of said grate bars 7 exi tend completely across the rectangular space 6 of the said "grate-bar frame 5, butothers upper end of a curved feed tube 16, which v passes downwardly and outwardly through the side of the ash pit 4 and extends a distance in a horizontal direction upon the exterior of said ash pit. The projecting horizontal portion of said feed tube 16 is preferably circular in cross section, and the outer end of the, same is closed by a head 17 carrying a bearing 18. Mounted in said bearing 18 is a con-veyer shaft 19, the outer end 20 of which is made angular in cross section to receive a handcrank or socketwrench 21. Fixed. upon said conveyer-shaft 19 in the usual manner, within said feed tube, is a spiral screw conveyer 22. 'Mou nted upon the feed 7 tube exterior of the ash pit is a fuel hopper 23, provided with a hinged cover 2 1. Fuel from the feed hopper 23 passes downwardly to 'anopening 25 formed in the said feed tube. The numeral 26 indicates a brace, connected at one end to the said feed tube, and

' at its opposite end to the ash pit wall within said ash pit, for the purpose of supporting and bracing the curved portion ofthe said feed tube.

The operation is as follows: Fuel being supplied to the hopper 23 passes downwardly therefrom through the said opening 25 into the conveyer 22, whence itwill be forced continuously as long as said 'con-- veyer is rotated, by means of the hand crank 21. The rotation of said conveyer 22 forces the fuel through the curved inner portion of said feed, tube 16 upwardly through the opening in the combined dead-plate and feed tube frame 14 centrally and above the fire grate, where the said fuel will be partially coked on said dead-plate and then burned completely in the usual manner, and

smoke will be prevented.

when it is desired 'to clean the fire, or a separate shaker handle or wrench may be' employed. In some cases I may replace the hand'crank 21 by a common gear wheel,

worm wheel or sprocket wheel, and continuously drive the conveyer, by means of a steam engine or electric motor, thus feeding the fuel in an uninterrupted stream upwardly through the opening in the fire grate.

I claim: The improved underfeed firing device for furnaces, the same being composed of a fixed fire-grate and frame having a rectangular opening therein, a series of long and shorter grate-bars mounted, to rotate within said rectangular opening, there being a smaller rectangular openin thus left centrally of the said first-mentloned rectangular open-- ing; a rectangular flat, smooth dead-plate and feed-tube frame fixed within said central smaller rectangular opening, and having bearings in which the inner ends of the said shorter grate-bars are journaled, and

also having a central feed-tube opening which is surrounded by the said rectangular dead-plate; a feed-tube connected to said feed-tube opening and extending down wardly and outwardlythrough the furnace ash-pit; and means for forcing fuel inwardly through the said feed-tube.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification, in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ORVILLE VIRDEN. Witnesses:

E. L. WALLACE, E. M. HARRINGTON. 

